Agreement nears on 12th Street scoreboard

David Dore

Friday

Oct 24, 2014 at 12:01 AM

A couple of groups have agreed on a new location for the scoreboard at Ronnie Bachand Memorial Field off of 12th Street, which was placed on private property and has been the subject of negotiations for three years.

The scoreboard is presently located on the right field side, on land owned by Mayor Dean Mazzarella. Leominster American Little League, which uses the field, and the Leominster Recreation Commission met on Oct. 20 at the city-owned field and agreed the scoreboard should be on the left center field side, behind a fence that encircles the field.

Asked Tuesday, Oct. 21 if he would give permission for people to come into his property and move the sign to left center field, Mazzarella replied, "Absolutely, sure."

"Speaking with the abutter … the situation that was expressed to me tonight was that if it goes in left field, they will attend the next meeting and they will sign off on the city being able to come remove the scoreboard," City Council President Richard Marchand said at the council's Oct. 14 meeting. "They will not protest it."

According to officials, an agreement will be written up by the city's attorney at Kopelman & Paige in Boston for the Little League, the Recreation Commission, the City Council and Mazzarella, as the property owner, to sign. Under the agreement, the scoreboard would be owned by the city.

The scoreboard is dedicated to Army Pfc. Jonathan R. Roberge, a Leominster native who died in February 2009 while serving in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"It's not just a scoreboard," said Leominster American Little League President Rob Lora. "It's a memorial."

Mazzarella said he bought the land more than two decades ago and later decided to build a house there.

"Once I decided I was going to build on it, I had it surveyed and found that they had put a scoreboard up there and it was on my property," he said.

That was three years ago. Since then, according to Councilor Wayne Nickel, a couple of agreements have been reached to move the scoreboard. The most recent agreement would have moved it a few feet toward right center field.

"It's really become a position where the homeowner is adamant, and I think we all agree with him, that right field is not the right location for it because of the residence," Marchand said. " ...None of us in this room would want to have that massive scoreboard in our backyard."

According to Lora, there's been work done to prepare the right center field area for the sign. Meanwhile, Recreation Commission Chairman Maureen Donatelli pointed out, that area has started to sink, creating a safety hazard.

"We feel it's a safety issue right now," she said last week. "It's been compromised. We don't want that to fall and cause more damage and/or injury to anyone that is in that area. So we want it to be removed immediately. We feel the best place is left center field. It's away from the property owner, [and] it's still in a good sight line for the field and the participants and the families that go to the field."

It would also be in an area where the scoreboard can continue to be operated wirelessly, Lora said, and not many home runs are hit.

In May, the City Council approved the appropriation of $9,999 to move the scoreboard. Recreation Commissioner John Ciccolini said there would be enough money to relocate it to left center field.

"The cost would be just slightly higher because we have to run a longer line from the left field pole into the left center area, but that's a minute change in terms of dollars," he told the City Council.

Separately from the scoreboard relocation, the 12th Street field will see improvements to the field itself and the relocation of bleachers to around the scoreboard so the facility can host Little League state tournament games.

Mazzarella said he's pleased that there's a possible resolution in sight.

"I'm just happy it's getting moved, at this point," he said, noting it's been "a very long three years."

Note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct name of the field. It is Ronnie Bachand Memorial Field, not Ronnie Bouchard Memorial Field, as originally printed.

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